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4. Input Macro files

4.1. Standard macro file

G4SEE macro files are ASCII files with .mac file format, containing all the user-defined settings, parameters for a single G4SEE application run.

Comments in the macro file start with # character.

Macro file structure:

• PRE-INIT STATE:

  • Material commands (/SEE/material/...)

  • Geometry commands (/SEE/geometry/...)

  • Biasing commands (/SEE/biasing/...)

  • Physics commands (/SEE/physics/...)

  • Other general G4 commands

• INITIALIZATION STATE:

  • /run/initialize (mandatory macro command)

• IDLE STATE:

  • Scoring commands (/SEE/scoring/...)

  • General Particle Source commands (/gps/...)

• STARTING RUN:

  • run/beamOn  100000 (mandatory macro command with arbitrary primary number)

Example macro files:

• examples/detailed_scoring_example.mac

• examples/diode_example.mac

• examples/spectrum_example.mac

• examples/SRAM_example.mac

4.2. Macro file parametrization

A parametric G4SEE run generates and uses as input a set of different (parametrized) macro files automatically generated by the g4see.py submit python script based on a single master macro (.mac) file and parametric YAML (.yaml) file.

4.2.1. Parametric macro file

• In the macro file, @ placeholder characters indicate the exact place to insert the values by the python script.

• At least one @ character needed per macro file.

• One macro command line could include multiple @ characters

• Comments (strings after # characters) are ignored

Example (parametrizing mean and sigma of beam energy):

# File: examples_parametric/parametrized_macro.mac
# Primaries
/gps/ene/type       Gauss
/gps/ene/mono       @   # changing this value in a parametric run
/gps/ene/sigma      @   # changing this value in a parametric run
/gps/direction      0 0 -1
/gps/pos/centre     0 0 1 mm
/gps/pos/type       Point

See examples_parametric/parametrized_macro.mac.

4.2.2. Parametric YAML file

• Define the related master macro file path with macro keyword, using a path relative to that yaml file or an absolute path

• Define list of commands with command-list keyword, which contain any @ placeholder to be replaced with values from value-list keyword

• Define value combinations with value-list keyword, which will be inserted to placeholders of commands listed with the command-list keyword

  • All placeholders need to have exactly one value per line in the same order as in command-list

Example:

# File: examples_parametric/parametric_source.yaml
# macro file path, either absolute or relative to this yaml file
macro: 'parametrized_macro.mac'

# list of commands in macro file (uncommented)
command-list:
  - '/gps/ene/mono    @'
  - '/gps/ene/sigma   @'

# values combinations for the macro commands
value-list:
  - ['2 MeV',  '20 keV']
  - ['10 MeV', '65 keV']
  - ['15 MeV', '80 keV']

See examples_parametric/parametric_source.yaml.

4.3. General Geant4 macro commands

Macro commands related to the initialization and start of a run, as well as other commands, like random number engine and verbosity.

Macro command	Type	M?	Description	Example value	Default value
/run/initialize	-	y	Initialization of the run	-	-
/run/beamOn	int	y	Number of primary particles, starting the simulation	10000	1
/random/setSeeds	int[2]	n	Set seeds for random number engine	1111 2222	random
/control/verbose	int	n	Verbosity, control **	1	0
/event/verbose	int	n	Verbosity, event **	1	0
/tracking/verbose	int	n	Verbosity, tracking **	1	0
/gps/verbose	int	n	Verbosity, general particle source **	1	0
/run/printProgress	int	n	Number of events to print progress after	1000	-1

** Higher verbosity degrades performance and generates large amount of output data. Recommended only for testing input macro files.